So life has been really crazy lately.  Part of that is my own fault, and part of that is just life.  I painted the boys room a few weeks ago.  Painting with a new baby is tricky, but I enjoyed it, and I'm really proud of the end result.  The camera messed with the blue color a little, but this picture is pretty close.

Chance thought that now he can drive his cars on the walls!

We celbrated Chance's 6th Birthday yesterday. He wanted a Captain America cake, a batman pinata, and he got the green aliens from Toy Story for his class treat. The cake was my first fondant experiment, which was fun.

This side looked more like cat woman!

Chance got boxing gloves from his mom and dad and an air soft gun from his aunt and uncle.  We may be crazy!

The first Sunday of the month, Pierce was blessed.  Matney, Rob and their family were here.  It will be so nice to have family closer!  It is always a really sweet thing to see one of our babies blessed.

Pierce is growing too fast.  He isn't a really chubby baby, but his fat cheeks make him look a lot chubbier than he is.  Right now, with his last growth spurt that has left him bald and his chubby cheeks, he looks like a hound dog!  It is sweet to me how preciouse a baby is and how beautiful I think he is, even when he is in a funny looking stage.  He hasn't slept in his own bed for more than a nap since he was born.  

Last week, I drove home from church.  That was the last time that we saw our car keys.  We looked in every conceivable place for them.  I looked in most inconceivable places for them.  We can’t find them.  I was pretty bummed about it; I knew that keys with chips are expensive; I just didn’t know how expensive.  The keys are pricy and then we have to pay to program them, but the bad part is that the car has to be at the dealership for them to program new keys.  Yes, the friendly man at the dealership was kind enough to clarify it for me; this means that the car has to be towed, since the keys are lost.  I became a little more upset over the lost keys after figuring this out.  The kids and I talked about it and we said a prayer and began to tear the house apart- again.  Still no keys.  Every time we prayed, we asked to find the keys- still no keys.  One night, as I put the girls to bed, Brynli asked me, a little upset, why Heavenly Father hadn’t answered our prayers yet.  I must admit that I had struggled with asking them to pray for the keys, knowing that if we didn’t find them it could precipitate this very question.  Oh ye of little faith!  I asked them why Heavenly Father doesn’t answer all our prayers right away.  Ari, smart girl, piped right up: “Because then our lives would be too perfect.”  And then I asked the really hard question, “Why don’t we want our lives to be too perfect.”  Ari new the answer again!  “Because then it wouldn’t be a test,” she answered.  She’s right and although Heavenly Father maybe hasn’t answered that prayer yet, the way we would have like, He gave us a better opportunity to talk about things that are more important.  This week as I’ve stressed and thought about those stupid keys, I’ve had a chance to really see how unimportant those keys are.

 (Thanks to my visiting teacher, who suggested I call our car insurance agent, the car got towed Saturday, no expense to us- thank you State Farm!)  Now we just have to wait for our appointment on Tues, pay a ridiculous amount of money for keys, but not towing, and I should be able to drive again!)

Pierce Grey Rowley is here!

 

The day Pierce was born, I had a doctor's appointment.  He said I was already at a 5 and should go straight over to labor and delivery.  Instead, I had to stop home because I had forgotten to give Nick the van keys and he was stranded at home with all of the kids, who were out of school on a snow day.  (They will cancel snow here for almost anything it seems.  For those of us used to rugged weather it seems a little wimpy and on that day inconvenient!)  At around 11 the doctor broke my water and at 3, I was still at a 5.  Things picked up from there and Pierce was born at 5:20.  He came so quickly in the end, I think we scared the nurse, who was hollering out the door... "I need anyone in here, I don't care who...help."  Our doctor was delivering another baby at the same time and got there just in time to pick our new boy off the bed...he missed the birth by a few seconds.


The kids are fascinated with the baby and all things associated with him.  The girls want to watch a labor on the internet (not happening) and Chance especially is curious about this breast feeding thing.

Pierce's hair is a little darker than the other boys' when they were born.  It is especially cute, since he has the same hairy ears that Nick and the boys have, his is just a lot more obvious, since it is dark.  He was 7 lbs. 7 oz and 19.5 in. long.  Despite his average size, he has Smathers' sized feet and when touched he can spread them out like his Mom!

Pierce was a real mover when he was in my stomach, so I was a little worried about him being too active once he arrived.  He is the sweetest, most peaceful boy.  Which is a good thing, because he has a really "piercing" cry when he does use it!

I'm doing well recovering and Nick and the kids have been great about stepping up and helping.  The kids were already discussing at dinner the other night where the next few kids would be able to sleep and how we could rearrange rooms to accomodate more!

We've Moved to OHIO!!!!!

Ok, we moved two months ago, and we are mostly settled now, and I'm finally getting around to writting about it on our blog.  I don't have any new pictures of the house or our new town to post (boring, I know), but maybe I'll get around to that.  Nick hadn't been verry happy for a while with his old job, so this summer he started looking for a new one.  We were really blessed to have a few options to choose from and the one that felt best was here in Zanesville, OH.  Nick has really been enjoying working for Kelloggs!

Nick moved here and lived out of a hotel for about 3 months before we got everything wrapped up in Waverly.  The kids and I flew out Nov. 1st, and lived with Nick in the hotel for another 2 weeks.  It was a great adventure, all six of us in two small rooms with a mini fridge and small microwave for a half a month!

We finally closed on our new house and  have gotten all but a few book boxes unpacked.  The kids miss their friends and say they don't like school here now and then, but they seem to be adjusting well and are happy.  Nick has been called as the adult Sunday School Teacher and is doing a great job.

I got the hot pink with brown dot room painted to a nice light mint color (5 coats later) for the baby.  We are excited for the new little one- due on Feb 2nd or 3rd.

Christmas was great.  Chance says it was "the best ever," even though we didn't have snow.  We got TONS the day after and a few days after that.  Now it looks like a winter wonderland- just too late for a white Christmas.  I do have a few pictures of the snow from our backyard.

Everyone told Nick that he wouldn't get a chance to use his new snowblower here and we were a little sad that we hadn't had a chance to sell it before we left IA.  Boy was Nick excited to take it out and fire it up and take on the snow!

We found deer tracks going just in front of our front door this morning, and I've seen up to 6 deer grazing around the back yard.

We are well and happy and I will try to get some more pictures for those who are far away!

Happy Birthday Grandma Jo!!!!!

Oh, just shut up!!!

This is dark, and I really wish that I had gotten our practice sessions, they were more true to the original event.  Ari was especially good at the attitude.  Oh well, when the camera turned on, they were on their best behavior.  The singing is still pretty typical Smathers.  Love ya!

School is out for the summer!

The kid's have been asking for weeks when the swimming pool will open.  It seems to be the highlight of vacation.  Since it wasn't open yet, but it was HOT, I let them get out the pool they won and blow it up.  The only condition, I wasn't going to help at all.  They were very smart about it and did a great job.  Even better, it popped at the end of the day and we are done with it!

I'm never very good at updating this... so I resolved to do it. Chance turned 5 this weekend. He was lucky that I had two of my old roommates and their families over. It made it into one big party for him. They had a ton of fun destroying the spider-man pinata. Chance also got a nerf gun and a sling shot, so he is well on his way to having outlets for his budding testosterone! Here is the cake we made. it was a mess during production, but it turned out all right. Sadly, I'm too inept to turn it around on this!

This is Chance's annual video interview. It is pretty funny. Nick insists that he gets it from me... I don't claim it, although it makes me laugh...now. Be warned, this clip is rated PG-13 for language.

This is the one where I asked them to look silly.....

This is one where I asked them to look good, do you see a difference. I don't!
Ok, so I counted, and I haven't posted anything for over a half of a year. I think I would feel worse if I knew that people actually looked at out blog, but I'm pretty sure we don't have that big of a following! Sorry, Becky, it isn't a BIG following, but you are important and you probably like to hear about your grandkids 'going ons. I'll try to catch you up... this might not be in chronological order!

Way back in May, Mom and Dad came to visit us. We had lots of fun. We spent a few of the days around Navoo. Here we are outside of the Mark Twain river boat. The kids seemed to have more fun talking about the ride, than enjoying it though.

Brynl's favorite part was the pioneer dress up, hands down. Where did I get such a girly-girl.


Chance's least favorite part was the brick makers, where we forgot him outside!


The swimming was Chance and Ari's favorite part. Nick made some friends in the pool too, so it was probably his too!


My favorite part was Carthage. I had never been before. It was really special. Mom was nice enough to stay outside with Chase and Arwyn and Dad, Nick, Chance, Brynli and I went on the tour.


Becky and Leon came in June and we put them to work. Of course, I don't have any pictures of that!

I think that the highlight of the kids summer was the Comin Family Reunion. We zip lined, paraded, played kick ball and played a TON. Everyone got red shirts with the family brand on them. All the kids, and sometimes all of us will end up wearing them on the same day. This happens quite frequently, because the kids wear them like clockwork on the first day after laundry day!

Chase is growing! He is very close to walking and he is into everything. He shakes his head "no" at you when you tell him "no," smiles, and does exactly what he wants to, knowing he shouldn't! He and I have had colds the past few days and even sick and teething, the boy is a good kid, who hardly fusses.

We went to the allergist in Aug. and found out that Ace is allergic to milk, eggs and wheat! Its good we love him so much, because otherwise I might be tempted to send him back. We've been experimenting with different things & I'm really happy "gluten free" is all the rage now!

The other day, we were praying before we ate. Chase is still little, and has no patience, so I usually put some fingure foods on his tray to keep him happy while we pray. After the prayer, I looked up and he wasn't eating anything, had his arms foldeed and made an inarticulate sound that I knew was his "amen." They learn fast, even before we think they are ready!

Chase makes it hard because he is a little vacuum and it makes it hard to regulate what he eats.

Chance just started pre-school and he loves it! It is such a change to have a child come home from somewhere and actually remember what they did and learned. It's great. They learned about keeping the bathrooms clean on their first day and I decided that he is in the RIGHT pre-school!

After his first day, Chance told me that he is "shy," but it doesn't seem to stop him from making friends and he doesn't look back when I drop him off. That's a good thing, right?!

Arwyn is loving 1st grade. She came out the other day, and told me she had an "AMAZING" day! Her teacher had good things to say about her too!

Arwyn wanted a pinata for her birthday, so we decided to make one. We had lot's of fun making it, and I think it turned out really, really well! The kids enjoyed helping, although they didn't want to get their hands in that dirty paper mache stuff! After it was all done, I asked Ari if it was as cool as she had thought. Her answer: "no."

Brynli loves school too, and she is a great reader! Brynli is definitely the older sister and I rely on her help a lot!

The other day, Brynli asked why I don't sew more. I responed, I love to sew, but I don't have much time. Brynli thought for a minute and then said: "Mom, maybe we should help you more, so you can have more time to sew and play, like us." It was really sweet to hear!

This picture says it all for Nick! On a whole, I thinki he is doing great, but with work, family and being YM Pres., the stress does make for some rough days. Good to know he can still laugh and make us laugh.